This article expresses what many of us cannot.

It's a contradiction I noticed in conversation with a Trump supporter. His admirers appreciate "telling it like it is" and lying in plain sight. I think it also has something to do with wishing they could get away with it. He can say the things that led to disciplinary action and a sensitivity training class for average Joe.
And he could not only get away with publicly shooting someone, he also ducked taxes, mistreated workers, mistreated women and shamelessly humiliated his wife without risk or doing the work of trying to hide his behavior.
That his actions would get many people fired or divorced is a selling point.
It's like being able to sell a beaten down used car without concern for the flaws that might make it a difficult task, or get a job without worrying about personal presentation.

If it wasn't for the whistleblower, we would be none the wiser.

And openly. Psychopaths know all the heuristics. Good that we learn them too now.

... it anyway and he should.

At least we can look past the focus on his sanity and idiocy, (which still apply) as a primary assessments of him.

I actually think that, (though he is not very well educated at all and surely has personality disorders) more attention could be payed to the strategies he has honed. This is quite an expert manipulator and a con man in a big way. So much so, that you can't count on his public face to tell you even the truth about his lies or facade at all. It may be more calculated than that.

In other words, he may not be all that intelligent in most things, but he could also play that up so it really appears that he is worse than than he is. Again, manipulation and propaganda can be complex strategies. The caveat is that, if this is the case, keep in mind that it has been working well for him. Notice that. He is crafty like a fox and foxes don't need to know all that much to get the chickens.

He may have several, severe personality disorders as we see, but he could play them any way he wants to in certain situations and capitalize on them. It would be better if you thought his actions were signs of insanity, actually. Again, keep in mind that it is working. A crazy person couldn't do as well as he has to get what he wants. Even if he is somewhat afflicted, it works in his favor.

Beware!

Last edited Tue Oct 8, 2019, 05:11 AM - Edit history (1)

Yep. This is an excerpt of a blog post I made over the weekend:

Let’s consider all of the crap being flung at the public in hopes that some of it will stick in the minds of just enough people to discombobulate the masses:

If it’s out in the open, it can’t be a crime.

It’s not political; it’s about fighting corruption.

Biden’s the corrupt one, and Ukraine colluded with the Clinton campaign–it wasn’t Russia colluding with my campaign.

There’s nothing wrong with having private conversations with foreign leaders. (Except for that pesky Presidential Records Act.)

So-and-so told me to do it.

It was just a joke.

And so on.

As silly and just plain false as those arguments are, Democrats do need to be vigilant about controlling the narrative by pointing out how wrong the arguments are *and* – I would argue – by pointing out what tactic is being employed. Because as obvious as it is to some of us, I guarantee many people aren’t going to recognize that Trump and his minions are attempting to convince people that their transparency (never mind that the whistleblower forced their hand) equates to innocence. ‘I’m not hiding this, so it can’t be wrong.’ If you help people recognize the tactic that’s being employed to fool them, I’d like to think they’re less likely to be fooled.

For the last three years, I’ve wished the DNC would hire a spokesperson such as John Fugelsang to hold a weekly or even daily press conference for the sole purpose of addressing Trump/Republican lies and obfuscation. Most people aren’t political junkies and need help understanding not just the what but also the *why* behind various lies and misleading statements. Given how many lies Trump tells on a daily basis, a dogged persistence on the part of Democrats would be required, so why not hire a charismatic spokesperson whose only job is to smack down the propaganda. If Dems continually point out that such and such tactic is being employed, it’ll eventually register in the public consciousness. Repeat, repeat, repeat. That’s how Republicans made “liberal media” a household term, which has had devastating effects on the public consciousness and the media itself. It seems some in the media are finally exhausted enough by the onslaught of lies that they are calling out the liars instead of simply letting the lies pass as if the liar is merely expressing a valid opinion. It’s one thing to have two guests on who are expressing opposing opinions about the proper role of the federal government. It’s another thing to just let a guest insist over and over again that two plus two equals seventeen, or that climate change is a hoax. But I digress…here are some examples of how a Democrat (at a press conference or on a talk show) might go about explaining (in simple terms) what tactic is being employed like a weapon against the public:

1) Trump wants you to believe that crimes committed out in the open can’t possibly be crimes. He’s wrong. Crimes out in the open are still crimes. He is committing impeachable offenses and hoping you’ll fall for his tactic. Don’t.

2) Republicans have for many decades employed the strategy of accusing Democrats of the very thing they are doing (such as Trump saying it’s Pelosi and Schiff who are committing high crimes and misdemeanors), so as to muddy the water and inspire false equivalencies (something the media loves to promote, because media personalities seem to think it will help them appear unbiased). The American people need to recognize this tactic for what it is and not fall for it.

3) Republicans (e.g., Kellyanne Conway) are employing the Gish gallop, which is defined as “a technique used during debating that focuses on overwhelming an opponent with as many arguments as possible, without regard for accuracy or strength of the arguments.” In other words, they’re trying to drown their opponents in so much BS that one doesn’t even know where to begin in responding. Well, we’re not going to play that game. When they are ready to join the rest of us in the land of fact-based reality, then and only then can we have an honest discussion. In the meantime, don’t fall for their tactic.

These tactics will continue to work unless Democrats repeatedly shine a light on the tactics themselves.

When Trump said on live TV that China should investigate Biden, Dem leadership should have immediately held a press conference to spell out exactly what Trump was doing, which is twofold. First and foremost, he’s committing an impeachable offense. Secondly, he’s trying to fool the public into believing that crimes committed openly can’t possibly be crimes. Dear American people, don’t be fooled–transparent illegality is still illegality. And remind the American people that there is still much that *is* being hidden, including transcripts of calls that have no business being stored on a server meant for highly classified records. And remind the American people that making threats to whistleblowers is witness intimidation and a crime. Never underestimate the ignorance of the American people; they need constant reminders.

Last edited Tue Oct 8, 2019, 10:04 AM - Edit history (2)

or country in a US election is not just a high crime making it unconstitutional and thus an impeachable offense, it's also against the federal law banning aid from a foreigner in a US election.

His publicly televised solicitation from China will be a part of the articles of impeachments along with his similar public solicitation from Russia in 2016 and the recent solicitation by phone transcript from the Ukraine president.

Don't believe for a moment that has not hurt him.

Maybe it will eventually, but it's going to take a hell of a lot more than what we have so far in order to get a conviction.

to oversee the executive branch. And if we don't we risk Dem voters an some independents staying home or voting third party in 2020.

If the Senate chooses to not convict in the face of much public stonewalling it will be on them and IMO it will damage trump's chances in the election.

Just think what must be buried in there.

I had a couple mini-strokes while reading the guy's performance at the press conference with Finland's Prime Minister. Here's a link for the curious and not-faint-of-heart https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-president-niinisto-republic-finland-joint-press-conference/

It is stunning. The blatant falsehoods, exaggerations too big for hyperbole to be contained, the flagrant projections.. they point to a pathology to fat to live.

And, yet, here we stand

"Frechheit siegt."

Hard to translate using two words, but it basically means that brazenness wins.

i.e. dare to be an asshole, and you'll get away with it. They had a rather nasty precedent here in the first half of the last century that proves the saying.

Gingrich. Rove.

"Brazen it out" as a tactic goes back much farther, of course, but those two diligently worked to make it the Standard Operating Procedure for Republicans.

Trump is following leaned behavior from his gutter dealings with other low-lives. He does these things because they have worked for him in the past, but he could not even begin to explain why.

My thoughts exactly.

Either way, we can't argue that the tactics don't work on some people - the operative word being "some". There will always be a percentage of people who are gullible. There will also always be a percentage of people who are just plain ignorant. Gullible people will believe anything if it's said in an authoritative manner, usually by someone who's a loud mouth and cocksure of his superiority. I don't know that you can ever change those sorts of people.

actually well known and reported by the MSM for months. The "brazen." I know I read it. Notably, our party's strategists had to have been examining that crime, among many, for actionability.

It was when public knowledge, which had mostly been shrugged off by the nation as Trump doing his usual, was presented in an insider whistleblower complaint, a "dark secrets coming out" restyling in a secrecy heuristic, that it finally caught fire as what it always should have been: a huge scandal.

Very interesting. Thanks, Applegrove.